Dominant Arsenal secure 3 points at home to the Bees

 

Arsenal 2 Brentford 1  
Premier League  
Saturday 19th February 2022 3pm   

Although the postponed Liverpool home game has been dropped into Arsenal’s schedule in just under a month’s time between the Leicester and Villa fixtures, this was the first of a series of matches where, potentially, Mikel Arteta’s team could make the end of the season far less stressful by putting another run together like that was saw in December. West Ham had dropped two precious points at home to Newcastle in the day, and compromised their own hopes of a top four place that looks like a shootout between five teams. 

Tomiyasu was fit enough to take a place on the bench, although Cedric retained his spot. He didn’t play badly, but with Martinelli suspended, the right back was charged with taking the corners from the left side and made a hash of most of them. Emile Smith Rowe came in for the absent Brazilian. It was such a different side from that which had lost on that Friday evening horrowshow back in August, with seven names that did not start that match in the eleven.

Arsenal dominated, and had good shouts for penalties on two separate occasions (two fouls to look at on the first), although VAR did not seem interested – presumably using the clear and obvious error argument as a reason not to get involved. It means that in spite of a decent enough display, it was goalless at the interval. Given the height of Brentford’s defenders and who they were up against, it did feel like the number of crosses we saw were a little unjustified. Better to try and fizz a low ball in and see if anyone connects. 

Smith Rowe took matters into his own hands just after the re-start with a lovely run and finish to score his ninth league goal of the campaign – the kind of tally that we hope to see from a player in the positions that he plays – either wide or in the number 10 role. The missing piece of the match-winning jigsaw is obviously the prolific centre forward, although after Aubameyang was outcast in early December, the goals kept on coming, with only two required from Lacazette as the finishing duties were spread around.

Pepe came on for Smith Rowe as it became more of a football match with the visitors forced to come out. Saka switched to the left flank and looked more dangerous, securing the game with a nice low shot at the end of a counter attack with just over ten minutes to go. It was very good to see the two youngsters on the scoresheet after what had been a fallow period since New Years Day, with the team failing to score for four matches that included three cup games. 

Odegaard is starting to control games more, although needs to start shooting more often from the positions he gets into, using greater power and accuracy. He also needs to make more penetrative runs, akin to Aaron Ramsey. He did have one great chance yesterday during the second half, but saw the ball saved. 

One interesting thing that we saw when Eddie Nketiah replaced Lacazette near the end of the game. Granit Xhaka appeared reluctant to take the captain’s armband, and ultimately, it was Kieran Tierney that finished the match wearing it. It really makes no odds, but was a little strange. 

Brentford’s consolation goal late in injury time was messy, initially awareded as offside and a little unfortunate. Clean sheets are always nice, but only really matter if goal difference becomes a determining factor at season’s end. Doktor Schneide commented -
The habitual end to an Arsenal game. Just when you thought the points were as safe as Thomas Partey’s cat from getting an accurate kick.
I queried whether the Ghanaian had also been found guilty of animal maltreatment and the good Doktor responded:
Dunno to be honest. But given the evidence of his shooting ability, if he tried to, I don’t think the RSPCA need to be contacted.

Ultimately, this was the performance we needed to see in the disappointing home draw with Burnley. Relegation candidates being overcome. Brentford are on a very poor run. Teams that have played them once have worked them out, the novelty factor is gone, and the absence of the injured Ivan Toney is hurting them. So failure to win this game would have been a crushing blow to Arsenal’s top four hopes. These are still very much on, and the mixture of resilience shown at Wolves, and the penetrative threat of the younger forwards needs to become more familiar than an occasional sighting. This way, the Gunners can pick up the points they really should expect to given the quality of the players in the first eleven, even without a recognized goalscorer. It’s a calculated risk, but let’s hope it works out. The return match with the in-form Wolves will tell us more.

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